Dressage-News

WELLINGTON, Florida, Mar. 6, 2016–Belinda Trussell and Anton that earned one of Canada’s two individual starts at the summer Olympics won the Palm Beach Derby World Cup Grand Prix Special Sunday for the second victory of the show.

The personal best Grand Prix Special score of 75.529 per cent following Friday’s Grand Prix result of 73.700 per cent bumped Belinda and the 16-year-old Sathu gelding to the top of the Canadian Olympic rankings. Their average of the best two Grand Prix and two Specials is 73.379.

Arlene “Tuny” Page of Wellington, Florida and Woodstock placed second on 73.341 per cent, also a personal best for the pair that are expected to make the squad of about eight American horses and riders to go to Europe after the winter circuit to compete for selection to the team to go to the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.

Laura Tomlinson, Great Britain’s Olympic team gold medal rider, rode Rosalie B for 72.078 per cent in only the second Big Tour competition for the 10-year-old Westfalen gelding, both here in Wellington. The horse was competed through mid-2015 by Anabel Balkenhol, the German coach of Laura.

Laura plans to compete Rosalie in the CDI4* in two weeks before returning home.

The horse was able to perform what was required at the top of the sport and Laura said she was working to make Rosalie fitter and strong to be able to improve piaffe and passage. “I’m really happy with him and how far he’s come,” she said.

Belinda said she appreciated the consistency of Anton after his competition experience of two World Games and the Pan American Games in Toronto last summer.

But she said rode in the Special rather than the Freestyle because the atmosphere at the night time musical performance scares him. She had downloaded applause tracks, used a hamster rattle and other noise-makers to get him used to the atmosphere. Although he appeared to be gaining confidence again, she expected that dealing with the noise issue would be on-going.

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